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Singapore, France to collaborate in antibody-based therapies
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-07 17:22

SINGAPORE -- The Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) inked an agreement with a French biopharmaceutical company to collaborate on speeding up the development of antibody-based therapies, Singapore's Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) announced Wednesday.

The SIgN, a research consortium under the A*STAR, and Humalys SAS, a private biopharmaceutical company based in Lyon, France, will focus on identifying and characterizing specific human monoclonal antibodies targeted at viral diseases that cause infection, inflammation or immunological disorders, the A*STAR said.

Under this partnership, SIgN will make use of Humalys' proprietary technology to isolate human monoclonal antibodies and build an antibody platform for studies into their therapeutic efficacy, said Jean-Pierre Abastado, senior advisor and principal investigator of SIgN, adding that"therapeutic monoclonal antibodies derived from this partnership will be useful as they may serve as an alternative treatment for patients with medical conditions which may not have any known remedy or vaccines."

Monoclonal antibodies are a thriving part of the biotechnology market. At present, the technology of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies is used in the production of more than ten blockbuster drugs currently used against cancer and inflammation.